A twenty-something's foray into the domestic arts.

Hunter rain boots. Everytime it rains I wonder why I don’t own a pair yet. Of course, it’s the ridiculous price tag… but I’m going to breakdown and consider them an investment. This Spring is my season for stylish puddle jumping.

My obsession with these gems started last July (how have I held off this long?!) when I saw a fabulous light pink pair in a shop window in Manchester, VT. It was clearly love at first sight since I took a picture of them. Who wouldn’t swoon over that color?!

Well, this is one time my frugal ways have come to bite me in the ass. This color is apparently last season now; I can’t find them anywhere. Instead, they’ve been replaced by some ugly magenta.

So, now the dilemma is… what color do I order? I think I’ve determined that the novelty colored boots will go in and out of style too quickly, and I want a pair that will last. I’ve narrowed it down to Cafe Latte, Navy, and Yellow.

Care to weigh in?

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Ahoy Mateys! Arrgghh… OK… pirate talk is sort of lame, I will spare you the pain.

I made this pirate apron for my cousin Gina for her 35th birthday. She is a lover of all things pirate. It’s the Fruit Tart apron pattern from A is for Apron by Nathalie Mornu. I didn’t make any changes to the pattern, except for my usual addition of a lining (see other posts below for details). The pirate chef appliqué was a graphic I found in Google, altered in Photoshop to be less intricate, then imported to Make-The-Cut and used my Cricut to cut out.

Similar apron blog posts can be found below:

• Handmade Halloween Aprons
• How To Make Your Own Appliqué
• A Family of Aprons
• Custom Apron for Bridal Shower
• A Fruitful Project: A is for Apron, Fruit Tart

The idea for the apron came from a custom order my cousin put in for party favors. She wanted pirate earrings made to give as “treasures” to her guests. Since one might have a hard time working pirate earrings into their everyday dress, I suggested a red with white polka fabric button earring mounted on a pirate themed piece of cardstock. I came up with two designs; I think they turned out super cute.

The adorable little pirate girl drawing came from a valentine printable you can find here – designed by MerMag. The Jolly Roger came up in a Google image search as a royalty free graphic.

I need to throw myself fun themed birthday parties. Perhaps for the big 3-0 in a few years. At the end of the month, my good friend is throwing herself a 10 year anniversary of her 21st. It’s a hot pink and zebra themed pole party (as in stripper pole exercise class)… that should be entertaining. I’ll be sure to take pics.

While everything looks yummy in a beautifully Photoshopped image on Pinterest, let’s face it… some recipes on there are just duds. Recently, I’ve made a few awesome recipes, and some that I’m surprised someone actually put up on the Internets. Today, I share a winner and a loser.

Oh, and I’ve found it best to start relegating my fails to a new board on Pinterest I’ve called “Looks good, tastes bad“. You may want to check it out before you give something a whirl. My keepers/make-agains are now  on a separate board as well – “Tried & True – Recipes Worth Making“.

I brought both of these recipes to a Super Bowl Sunday party. The feedback comes from not only me, but from my husband’s college roomates… who are honest enough to tell me when something works… and when it does not.

WINNER: Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies from Betty Crocker

Brownie, peanut butter filling, and a ganache topping … what’s not to love here? This is the perfect combination. These were so soft and delicious. They were gone in less than 10 minutes at the party. Enough said.

LOSER: Turtle Cookies from Rock Recipes

Turtles are one of my favorite candies. So, when I saw these I thought they would be yummy. They look so chewy and inviting in the picture. Fact is, the chocolate cookie baked up like biscotti, making it really crispy and crumbly. Then, the entire caramel in the middle got rock hard post-oven. I had two people tell me they almost lost teeth biting into them. Not a good feature in a cookie.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of helping my good friend announce the gender of her baby to close family and friends.  I’d never heard of this new unveiling method, but apparently it’s a popular thing to bake a gender cake and throw a bash for it. The color on the inside of the cake tells people whether it’s a girl or a boy.

The inspiration for the cake came from the Celebration Cake post on Cupcakes and Cashmere.  The cake was baked using David’s Yellow Cake recipe from AllRecipes.com. It’s a dense cake, which makes it perfect for decorating. When I baked it, I did 1 1/2 times the original recipe; there is a simple adjuster for servings on AllRecipes.com. I had to do this because I used 2 9 inch rounds (instead of 8 inch) to create the 4 layer cake.

The frosting was to die for; it’s the Creamy Vanilla Frosting recipe from Magnolia’s. My friend wanted only the frosting between the cake layers to be colored. We made sure to do a border of white frosting on the inside of each layer so the colored frosting didn’t smear out onto the outside of the cake.

The cake was finished off with my favorite kind of sprinkles, Confetti Sprinkles! Honestly, they make any cake item taste better and the colors are so pretty. I also made a sweet little cake banner that said “It’s a…”.

BOY

The Nana-to-be got the privilege of pulling out the first slice. It was so cute to see everyone’s faces eagerly awaiting as it was served. I was really honored to be part of such a special event.

Congratulations Lisa & Dave… can’t wait for Baby D to get here!

Obviously we love The Office in our house. Not only did I hijack this awesome Dwight Schrute drawing to create a custom card for the hubs, but he snuck a quote from his Office daily calendar into my card. It read: “Anybody can be Prince Charming one day a year with the dinner and the flowers and all that, but you know what impresses me? When a guy can do that no days a year.” – Ryan. I’m married to such a romantic.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

A friend and I were talking today about Pinterest and how everyone and their mother is on it now, pinning away like a mad woman. It got me to thinking how many things must end up on people’sboards where they stay forever as just an idea or good intention.

To help combat this, every week I’m going to try and share (yes, I’m starting with the best intentions) solid recipes and projects I’ve found on Pinterest – or I pinned from other sources and were well received with lots of repins. This way, instead of just admiring the pretty pictures, you can feel confident in giving them a whirl yourself.

Tonight, I’m starting with a recipe for Pepperjack Potatoes.

I don’t know how you could go wrong with potatoes and cheese of any kind. But, these were divine. They were super easy to make and a new take on a traditional side dish. The original recipe can be found here; below I’m providing my version since I doubled it for a crowd of 7 and used a combo of cream and milk to lighten it up.

Pepperjack Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

10 medium sized russet potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
8 oz block of pepperjack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
Salt

Directions:

Place peeled, cut potatoes into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. As soon as the water starts boiling, cook for 6 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender enough to put a fork through them. The potatoes should be slightly underdone; if you overcook them you’ll end up with pepperjack mashed potatoes (which would also be yummy per my brother’s opinion).

Drain the potatoes and put them back into the pot. Add in your shredded cheese, heavy cream, and milk. Stir until the cheese is melted. If you prefer it to be creamier, add more cream or milk. If needed, also add salt to taste.  (Every brand of cheese is different, so I like to leave the salting until the final moment).

Transfer to a big bowl and serve immediately to enjoy all of the creamy cheese goodness.

Looking for something to serve with these?

I paired my pepperjack potatoes with Sage and Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloins and steamed asparagus.

When we moved into our home 2 1/2 years ago, it was a mess. We basically had to gut it, as each room had something to tackle. Along the way, the hubs and I picked up a lot of DIY skills and we now have a home we really take pride in.

As we were redoing things, we made the conscious decision to paint every room in an off-white, tan, or light grey. We only thought we’d stay in the house long enough to keep the full $8,000 tax credit and then be on our way. Nearly 3 years later, we’re not moving… and we don’t plan to anytime soon. We love our little ranch close to town.

Unfortunately, now all of the boring, neutral colors on the walls are really starting to grate on me. I am not one for bland or generic, and all of the paint choices feel that way to me. Now that we know we’re going to be here awhile, I’ve started to go room by room and repaint furniture and decor to amp up the color.

Painting furniture is a great way to save money and give a second life to something that has otherwise seen better days. I used the long weekend to redo an end table and coffee table for our family room. Honestly, I’ve always loved these pieces. They are display tables. Each has a glass top, then 5 inches down there is a drawer you can pull out and put things on.

These were hand-me-downs from my parents, who have a farmhouse. They’ve always felt a bit country to me, and they had a very distinct 90s look. The drawer lining was navy blue velvet, which I think was the absolute worst part of them. The hardware was your traditional brass, aged over time. While dated, they were super solid and functional… and free.

To begin, I sanded down both of the units. (I’ll be covering must have tools for furniture redos in an upcoming post.) When I was done sanding, I wiped them clean using a damp cloth and let them “dry” overnight.

For the end table, I chose a bright green paint. I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in a satin finish. The color is “Scotland Isle”. Once painted, I gave it a coat of polyurethane.

For the coffee table, I went with a royal blue. Again, I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in a satin finish. The color is “Sailboat.” It also got a coat of polyurethane to seal it.

To finish both pieces off, I headed to Hobby Lobby for some knobs and pulls. Since I was painting random furniture random colors, I figured some random hardware would do. I found some sweet little ceramic scallop knobs in green for the end table. For the coffee table, I found blue and white striped ceramic pulls and coordinating blue and white flower ceramic knobs. I LOVE them, I could live in the hardware isle at Hobby Lobby.

Originally, I searched for some matching fabric to line the inside of the drawers that show through the glass. After hitting every fabric store and coming up less than enthused by my options, I decided to go with a basic, off-white home decor fabric. I believe it was from the Waverly Modern Essentials line at Jo Ann’s, but I can’t confirm. Using a combination of freezer paper stenciling and hand painting, I then applied swirls to the fabric in the matching paint color. When I was done, I applied the new drawer lining to the old with some spray glue.

The total cost for both tables was approximately $55.00. The most expensive part was the paint at $14.22 per quart. The fabric was 50% off; I got a yard for $9.99. The hardware was also 50% off $2.99 for the knobs and $3.99 for the pulls. We had all of the other supplies like paint brushes and polyurethane lying around from previous renovation projects.

After several days of a table-less family room, my husband helped bring them upstairs last night. After we were done arranging them, he said: “Honey, I know you make a lot of nice things… but these tables are awesome. I bet they’d cost a fortune in a store. I’m so proud of you.” While I’m not going to say the process of refinishing these was easy, they certainly were worth that fabulous compliment. He’s the best.

I’ll be sure to tell him how much better they will look with new pillows and lamp shades surrounding them when I go shopping this weekend.

We were a little late in our house to stumble upon the greatness that is The Office, so bear with me here. Over the last few months, the hubs and I have watched every episode season 1 through 7 on Netflix. It’s hard to pick a favorite character, but we both really appreciate Dwight’s sense of humor.

For Christmas & his birthday, the hubs asked for The Office t-shirts. I wasn’t really impressed with the selection on NBC, so I decided to make my own.  I made two, each Dwight-themed.

The first highlights Dwight’s favorite things in life … Bears… Beets… and Battlestar Galactica. Turns out, there are a TON of adorable Dwight items on Etsy. So, it was easy to find cute quotes to run with.

The second shirt is a promo for Schrute Farms Beets. My husband gets a kick out of the legit profile on TripAdvisor. It’s the simple things in life.

For both shirts, I used my Cricut to create a freezer paper stencil, then applied fabric paint to the t shirt. I designed the lettering and graphics in Photoshop. I’ve made them into SVG files in case you’d like to download them and make your own. Enjoy!

SVG Download Links:

• Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica
• Schrute Farms Beets

The Christmas cookie excitement continues.

I LOVE Rolos. Well… I like anything with caramel in it. These cookies have a Rolo baked into the middle and they are absolutely awesome! You might think that they’re a lot of work, but they are really simple to make.

Image by Taste of Home

CARAMEL-FILLED CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans, divided
• 1 package (13 ounces) Rolo candies

Directions:

In large mixing bowl, cream butter, 1 cup sugar and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture, beating just until combined. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans.

Shape a tablespoonful of dough around each candy, forming a ball. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and pecans; dip each cookie halfway. Place nut side up 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes or until tops are slightly cracked. Cool for 3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 5 dozen